10 month old refusing PM nap and EW - HELP!

[EloysH]

Hi Guys,

I have an early waker who's been doing it for a few weeks...  not sure whether to join the other thread that's going on this topic or to start this new one..  can mods advise?
I also have posted some questions on transition from 2 to 1 naps on the nap board, but nothing specific on EW, let me know where this question belongs!

My lo is very active and spirited and just coming to 10 months old..  I have not been able to get two naps out of him for 3 weeks now except on two occasions. I am coming to the conclusion that we need to switch to a 1 nap schedule and try that for a while.    But my problem is during the mayhem of naps going wonky we now have the worst early wakings, on average 5am, today 4:40 am and nothing I do gets him back to sleep.  Luckily he has been playing in his cot for up to 40 mins or so before I am forced to go get him out....

Here's our routine for the past 2-3 weeks....  can you advise on how to try to encourange him to sleep in later than 5am!!

5am wake (eek!) BF
6:30-7:00am Breaskfast
8:30 - 9:00am NAP  (approx 1.5  hours sometimes 2 hours)
10:00 - 10:30 wake      snack
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm BF
2:00 or 3:00pm or 4:00pm depending on tired signs try for nap 2  but it doesn't happen, so he has 30 mins in cot playing or crying on and off  with WI/WO method
Snack after the 'no nap' ordeal
4:30pm - 5:OO Dinner & Bath
5:30 pm BF
6:00pm  BED


We have no choice but to put him to bed by 6pm as he is like a walking zombie at that stage. On the above routine he won't give in to sleep until until about 5 pm...so the last hour is really hard to keep him awake...   He consistently sleeps 10-11 hours a night and with only the one nap of 1.5 - 2 hours in the day = 12 - 13 hours hours

So how do I change this to get a reasonable routine?


He used to sleep 10 hours a night and have 2 x 1.5 hour sometimes 2 hours ....    = 13-14 hours  He used to wake randomly beytween 5am nad 6:30 am but more like 6:30am.

thanks in advance

Eloys

[RyansMum]

Could his A time increase in the morning to move the nap back?

[EloysH]

I could try that , sometimes he is just too tired, but I guess small increments?

[Purplecattypants]

Hi again 

So, your LO is obviously OT from only taking one nap and is therefore EW.....as this is a nap issue I am going to modify the title slightly and move to naps...you should get the help you need there 

[EloysH]

ok thanks..
he woke at 4:45am today after 6pm bedtime.. and back down for nap at 8:00am.

[EloysH]

ok woke from first nap only after 45 mins and had a huge melt down..  I could not calm him for about 30 mins... I started panicing and ringiing my mum and husband... not sure if it's OT teeth or reflux again... we just took him off his meds two weeks ago.  He's happy now, slowly calmed down and awake.. poor thing!   so from 9am wakeup from first nap I don;t see how he can go without a nap this afternoon, I will just have to try literally EVERYTHING today to get him to sleep.

[Purplecattypants]

45 min naps would suggest that he's not tired enough to make it through the next sleep cycle....so I would agree with what Sharon said, try increasing that first A time to get that nap later and longer. Do it slowly (5-10min increment every 3 days or so) to stop him getting OT.

He really does need another nap in the afternoon, no nap is making him OT therefore he is waking super early in the morning as you know. Have you tried in the car or stroller? My lo has not taken an afternoon nap in his crib for well over a month now! Until you can easily drop to one nap, it may be just what you have to do to get him through to a decent bedtime.

What do you think? Hang on in there....the 2-1 switch is nasty, but you'll get there eventually.

Take a look here too: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0

 

[EloysH]

Will try stroller and car. thanks again  Angela & Ryans Mum,  I can see you are busy on the boards.
I had tried with stroller and car but didn't get anywhere with them.. then sort of gave up on them... 

So you think getting that afternoon catnap is the key to the early wakings?  I will try to extend A time in morning but at the moment he is soo tired I can't really get past the 3-3.5 hour mark. Lets hope the nap gods are are with us for the next few days!

I really do think that this 2 to 1 switch is nasty!!! I have not seen LO so out of sorts for a long time...

If I get any progress will post and let you know.

[Purplecattypants]

Yes, I do thing the lack of afternoon nap is causing the ew's....he is dreadfully OT after all that awake time before bed.

Another thing to try, if you find you cant stretch him much in the mornings, is to cut that morning nap short instead, in the hopes that he will be tired enough to take an afternoon nap. You could try cutting it to 1 hr if its usually 1.5.  Be aware that if you cut this nap, he may need slightly shorter A time afterwards as he will be more tired (so ctry ucutting A time by 15-20 mins). Again, try that for 3 days and see what happens, hopefully he will start napping in the afternoon...let him sleep up to 1.5 hrs (or even 2) in the afternoon, as this nap is the most important for getting good night sleep.

Let us know how you get on   

[RyansMum]

I think Angela has a good suggestion there, alternatively you could do a longer winddown time before nap, so nice and quiet but extending his awake time a bit.

[EloysH]

thanks again will both those suggestions .. one a time of course   will post any progress made

[EloysH]

Hi Ladies,

I have three days to report..
Basically LO is in a full blown teething again  so everything has changed. He has been so sick and tired.
He has done afternoon naps for the past 3 days  YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!   He is just soo tired and cranky and sick with mild temperature past two days that he collapses into a heap for the afternoon nap after 4 hours of activity time. Morning is still 3 hours of activity.

We had 5 am waking 2 of the 3 days, but one morning was 4:40am wake-up!  I said to DH no way can you make him go back to sleep without BF?  And he went down and got LO back to sleep, so he slept till 6:30am YAY!  It seems that at 4:40am LO still thinks it's night and will go back to sleep, where as at 5am .. thinks its day and is ready to go.  I am wondering whether she should wake him at 4:30 amd put him back to sleep to disrupt the 5am waking pattern?

Stilll going to bed at 6:30pm and waking 5am...   

So now that we have the afternoon nap  I am still a bit hesitant about what to do next to stop EW.

Eloise

[RyansMum]

Hiya, nice update! But poor lo!

Do you have black out blinds in his room to make it that much darker?

[EloysH]

Yes! the blinds are full block out so it is really dark in his room.  I think his body clock has been set for 5am because its been this way for 3-4 weeks now.    It's wierd, at night wakings he's able to fall back asleep and fairly sleepy but at 5am he's alert doesn't want to go back down.  SO I guess we have to teach him or reprogram his clock. 

[Purplecattypants]

It will take time to get him out of the OT cycle....what has his routine looked like the past few days?